This caches' location has undergone many drastic environmental changes over the last several decades that changed ecology of area. Mother Nature intended this area as a marsh, providing habitat for countless species of wildlife. Then, man intervened, turning the marsh into a forest, but Mother Nature was not to be undone. It took her a few decades, but the area is a marsh once again, just as she intended it. As you earn this cache, you will learn about the ecological transformations that occurred and how in the end, Mother Nature prevailed returning this area to the marsh it was intended to be.
A marsh is a type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. It can normally be found at the edge of lakes and streams, and act as a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are dominated by grasses such as rushes and reeds, and have few to no woody areas. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and bogs, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.
Marshes are a habitat to many types of plants and animals which have adapted to living in flooded conditions. The plants must be able to survive in a highly saturated area and still be able to take in the necessary nutrients. Many of these plants therefore have aerenchyma, channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves into the rooting zone. The aquatic species, from fish to salamanders, are generally able to live with a low amount of oxygen in the water. Some have found ways to get their oxygen from the air instead, while others can live indefinitely without it. Marshes provide habitat for fish, waterfowl and a number of types of aquatic mammal. As well as this, they act to improve water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants and sediment from the water that flows through them. Also important is their function in flood control. Marshes and other wetlands are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce the magnitude of the flooding. The pH in marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline, as opposed to bogs, where peat accumulates under more acid conditions.
Types of marshes
There are a number of different types of marshes depending mainly on their location and salinity. Both of these factors greatly influence the range and scope of animal and plant life that can survive and reproduce in these environments. The three main types of marsh are salt marshes, freshwater tidal marshes, and freshwater marshes. These three can be found worldwide and each contains a different set of organisms specialized to survive in the harsh environment that it finds itself in.
Salt marshes
Salt water marshes are found around the world in mid to high latitudes, wherever there are sections of protected coastline. They are located close enough to the shoreline that the motion of the tides affects them and, sporadically, they are covered with water. They flourish where the rate of sediment buildup is greater than the rate that the land level is sinking at. Salt marshes are dominated by specially adapted rooted vegetation, primarily salt-tolerant grasses.
Salt marshes are most commonly found in lagoons, estuaries and on the sheltered side of shingle or sandspit. The currents there carry the fine particles around to the quiet side of the spit and sediment begins to build up. These locations allow the marshes to absorb the excess nutrients from the water running through them before they reach the oceans and estuaries. These marshes are slowly declining. Coastal development and urban sprawl has caused significant loss of these essential habitats.
Fresh water tidal marshes
This form of marsh is defined by the fact that although it is a freshwater marsh, it is still affected by the tides. Without the stresses of salinity that is undergone by its salt water counterpart, the diversity of the plants and animals that live in and use these marshes is much higher than salt marshes. The most serious threats to this form of marsh are the increasing size and pollution of the cities surrounding them.
Fresh water marshes
Freshwater marshes are the most diverse form of marsh in the three groups and range greatly in both size and geographic location. They make up the most common form of wetland in North America. Some examples of freshwater marsh types in North America are;
Wet meadows
Wet meadows occur in areas such as shallow lake basins, low-lying depressions, and the land between shallow marshes and upland areas. They also occur on the edges of large lakes and rivers. They often have very high plant diversity, and high densities of buried seeds. Although they are regularly flooded, in the summer, they are often dry.
Vernal pools
Vernal pools are a type of marsh found only seasonally in shallow depressions in the land. They can be covered in shallow water, but in the summer and fall, they can be completely dry. In western North America, vernal pools tend to form in open grasslands, whereas in the east they often occur in forested landscapes. Further south, vernal pools form in pine savannas and flatwoods. Many amphibian species depend upon vernal pools for spring breeding; these ponds provide habitat that is free from fish which eat eggs and young of amphibians[14]. An example is the endangered gopher frog (Rana sevosa). Similar temporary ponds occur in other world ecosystems, where they may have local names. However, the term vernal pool can be applied to all such temporary pool ecosystems.
Playa lakes
Playa lakes are a form of shallow freshwater marsh that occurs in the southern high plains of the United States. Like vernal pools, they are only present at certain times of the year and generally have a circular shape. As the playa dries during the summer, conspicuous plant zonation develops along the shoreline.
Prairie potholes
Prairie potholes are found in the northern parts of North America. This landscape was once covered by glaciers and as a result shallow depressions were formed in great numbers. These depressions fill with water in the spring. They provide important breeding habitat for many species of waterfowl. Some pool only occur seasonally while others retain enough water to be present all year.
Riverine wetlands
Many kinds of marsh occur along the fringes of large rivers. The different types of marsh are produced by factors such as water levels, nutrients, ice scour, and waves.
Prior to 1984 the cache area was a beautiful marsh that was critical habitat to a number of species, including home to a very rare and majestic species of bird known as the Greater Sandhill Crane, among many other species of wildlife. These majestic birds stand 3-4 ft. tall and are grey and brown with a bright red patch on their foreheads and cheeks that are mostly white. Their wingspan can be over five feet and they can live 20 years or more!!!
You will notice that near the cache site, there are high-rise power lines that disappear under the ground for about a quarter mile, before popping back up on the edge of the marsh. This was done, long ago so as not to infringe upon the Sandhill's flight path in and out of the marsh. The marsh was also home to alligators, snowy egrets, great blue herons, little blue herons, little green herons, a variety of amphibians such as pig frogs and narrow mouthed toads.
Then tragedy struck. In 1984 an LSU student violated the Park's ban on fireworks and as a result, the marsh and surrounding forest burned to the ground. On a humorous side note, the LSU student was convicted of his crime and sentenced to spend one year living in a tent in Gulf State Park, while replanting trees. On one very cold night the Park Superintendant's wife was very concerned about student's well being and demanded that her husband take her to check on him. When they arrived, she found him well set up and cozy warm in his tent, with an electric heater and a pot of warm soup that the snowbirds (winter visitors from the North) made him.
After the fire of 1984, the State of Alabama decided to reseed the area by using a helicopter to drop thousands of pine seeds in the burn area. The seeding worked it's magic, in a tragic sort of way. The pines grew fast and tall, drying up the marsh and the beloved Sandhill Cranes disappeared from Gulf State Park with only the underground power lines to serve as a reminder of what was lost. But, Mother Nature has a way of setting things right.
The years 2004 and 2005 were very bad years for Gulf State Park. First, Hurricane Ivan came in 2004, flooding the campground and former marsh under a sea of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico. This was repeated again in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. The salt saturation of the soil greatly weakened the pine trees and it wasn't long before the Pine Beetle came in and finished them off, leaving a massive grove of dead trees.
To make matter's worse, the only things would grow in this area after the storm was Muscatine, and a horrible, massive, briar type plant known as Smilax. Between the two of them, the area soon became an impassible, ticking time bomb, loaded with fuel and waiting for the next perfect combination of events to bring both disaster and rejuvenation.
This occurred in June of 2011. The Park had gone full ten weeks without rain. The lakes receded to record low levels and what was left of the marsh completely dried up, except for the very occasional mud hole. The Park's alligators caused quite a stir that year, as they made long, overland treks across the campground, looking for water.
There was a strong, South wind blowing the day it started. A man who was the son and brother of firemen was Bar-B-Qing and was doing everything possible to do it safely. He was using charcoal (which was approved by the Park) and even kept a cover on his cooker to contain the sparks. After he finished cooking his dinner, he covered things up, when into his camper and enjoyed his meal. During this time, it is believed that the wind blew a spark out of one of the side vent holes in the cooker and it landed in the nearby brown grass. He exited his camper to find an infernal to the North of him, spreading at a phenomenal rate.
The Fire of 2011
Firefighters from Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and countless other communities responded quickly to the Park's call for help. They battled through the night, to contain the fire, keeping most of it south of the Hugh S. Branyon Back Country Trail, although there were flare ups around the Orange Beach Sportsplex and across Canal Road on The Wharf's property.
The Marsh, after the fire of 2011.
The marsh from the air, after the fire of 2011.
The fire was finally contained, but it took over two weeks for it to be put out. The fire fighters were joined by three State Trooper helicopters, and one National Guard Chinook helicopter that dropped thousands of gallons of water into the burn area. A back burn was started late one evening, and it turned into a disaster, when a freak thunderstorm came out of the north blowing the smoke and back south, into the campground. In a period of about 30 seconds, visibility went to zero. The only way I could see the road from my F150 was to look out the driver's window, straight down at the ground!
When it was all over, nearly 900 acres of Gulf State Park had been reduced to ash. While this sounds like a bad thing, it was really Mother Nature's way of setting things right and returning the Earth to its proper habitat. First off, the Muscatine and Smilax were gone. The Park hopes that enough time has passed to rinse the salt from the soil, allowing a more normal regrowth of the area. Also, the rains returned, filling the marsh again.
The one big question was would the Sandhill's return. Then one day it happened, a small flock of Sandhills came to visit the marsh for one day. While they didn't stay long, they left the Park with hope that maybe, someday they would return again in force and the Park's marsh will once again become a Sandhill Crane Sanctuary.
While this photo isn't great, what it captures is amazing. The return of the Sandhill Cranes.
To claim this cache, you must do the email me answers to #1-6 and post #7 on this geocache page. Please do not post answers in your log.
- What type of marsh do we have here?
- Looking straight up from the GZ, count the number of wires on the power lines.
- Tell what started the fire in 1984 that wiped out all life in the marsh area.
- Explain why the marsh all but disappeared after the fire of 1984.
- Tell what relic remained, of the days of the Sandhills (hint, it is connected to question 2).
- What three things killed the forest that replaced the marsh after the fire of 1984.
- Explain how the fire of 2011 was a good thing.
- Optional - Post a picture of yourself at the GZ. This will serve as a living time capsule to track the progress of the regrowth of the marsh. Bonus points will be awarded for pictures that include Sandhill Cranes
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The marsh today.
Thanks to RVSEEKERS for suggesting this cache.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh
I hope you have enjoyed all the geocaches we have placed in Gulf State Park, along with the rest of your experience here Please consider giving us some feedback here. We would appreciate it if you would include something about your geocaching experience. We hope to show the bosses in Montgomery how many people geocache, in hopes that they will encourage other Parks to invest in it like we have, here at Gulf State Park. Thanks, Dothenumbers.
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Image by Rita Naugher